ink - sirius black

lighters and weakness

tw - burning

April 9, 1977
9:47 pm
Gryffindor Common Room

Anneliese was sitting on the common room couch with Lily and Alice, finishing up a Potions assignment due in a few days. Their workload was so intense that all of the students had learned to get everything done as soon as possible so that they weren't overwhelmed by dozens of assignments at the end of the week.

Even though she didn't let it show, or tried not to, Callaway was still deeply distracted by Sirius's suggestion days earlier at Honeydukes.

We could maybe tell a few people, his voice said again in Anneliese's ears before her own took over. Don't be selfish, Anneliese. Can't you see that it's hurting him that you still want to keep this hidden?

Her dark blue eyes flicked away from the Potions homework and back towards where the burned patch of carpet was mounted on the wall.

The thing almost felt like a relic, even though it was only from a few weeks ago. Anneliese tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked at it, gazing at the reflection of the fire and her alongside one another in the glass pane.

Before she could get too deep into thought, though, two heads suddenly joined her reflection inches away from her face, making her startle slightly, and then quickly disguise the shock with a grin.

"Don't scare me like that," she teased Sirius and James as they sat down on the carpet in front of the coffee table, loot from Honeydukes in hand. "Yall need to work on this as well, really, Slughorn is going to have our heads after the stunt Peeves pulled last class."

"I don't understand why he blamed all of us for that," Sirius huffed as he reached for a cigarette on the mahogany. "It really should have just been Peeves, or me and you at the most."

"Well, apparently by making that damn alliance, I am now responsible for nearly half the things he does," Anneliese sighed in return. "I'm the one putting him up to the things here, according to the professors."

A grin tugged at the corners of her lips, not completely fake for once.

"I mean, they're right of course, but it's still a rather rude assumption to make-"

Sirius laughed at the statement as he took in an inhale of smoke at the same time, making him cough while laughing, which then in turn made James start laughing as well at his mate's state until he recovered from the fit.

Anneliese scooped up the lighter from the floor next to Sirius after he had lit his cigarette, not wanting anyone to trip on it if it stayed on the carpet.

"Yes, but why rope all of us in?" Black asked with a playful look in his eyes as he stared up at Anneliese, tilting his head back so it was resting on the edge of the couch. "It-"

"It's because we're all just one jolly pack," Lily interjected with slight sarcasm, setting her quill down and giving up on studying now that the boys had come near them. "If you get one of us in trouble at this point, most people will just assume that the rest of us had something to do with it as well."

"We're not Hufflepuffs," Dorcas grumbled, running a hand down her face. "We don't have the traits of being loyal and fierce friends and stuff in our house, why don't the professors do this to those yellow fuckers-"

Anneliese started flicking the lighter on and off in her hand as she watched the conversation unfold in front of her, a grin placed on her face as always.

The reason for the falseness of her expression wasn't because in any way her fellow sixth years were not being funny or amusing with their jokes and jabs, because they very much were.